


Metanoia

by WoeyLeaf



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoeyLeaf/pseuds/WoeyLeaf
Summary: Over the past few months Arisato learnt a lot about the sun.
Relationships: Kamiki Akinari & Arisato Minato
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Metanoia

He still remembered the first time when they met. It wasn't intentional to begin with, but once they did their bond grew stronger. It was the little girl called Maiko who brought them together at the shrine. Before then, it was just her and the rare visits from his mother.

It wasn't that his mother didn't care about him, in fact it was the complete opposite. It was that she was frequently busy being a single parent and Akinari himself insisted on her coming to visit him less. He didn't want her to worry about him, he remembered all of those times when his mother would come into his hospital room red-faced just before the end of visiting hours just to see her son. Even though she was half asleep and out of breath she still made the effort to come.

He was a dying man: There was no way to sugar coat it. He didn't want to burden his mother with his slow and painful death. He wanted her to be happy, to find someone else to love and be with her friends and maybe finally start a new successful family. There was no real reason for her to stay.

But despite that the little girl stayed by his side. He didn't know what that girl saw in him. He had tried to push her away from him many times before but that only seemed to make her little fire grow brighter. He gave on trying to get rid of her, she was a small ray of sunshine and it was hard for him to look away.

He also came to realise that she wasn't as weak as he thought she was, she too has had her fair share of hardships. Her parents were in a strained relationship between each other which also strained their relationship with their daughter. They both felt that it was more important in fighting for their daughter rather than for her happiness.

On Sundays when he was allowed to leave the hospital she made a promise to him that they would play together. He didn't see how being with him was fun all he mostly did was sit on the row of benches while he listened to her talk endlessly, especially on the weekends when she could have been doing something more fun. But maybe he thought that she didn't have anything else better to do or anyone else to hang out with. He honestly didn't mind having her around, in fact he actually grew to like her a lot. Sometimes he wonders if this is what it is like to have a younger sister. Although with as kind of a heart as hers he wonders why she would ever be left alone.

He remembers a particular morning earlier in the year when he saw another boy with her near the slides. Nothing really stood out about him to him. He was a few years younger than him judging the Gekkoukan uniform, he had blue hair that covered on side of his face and had headphones dangling down from his neck.

As soon as the small girl spotted him by the entrance she quickly waved and called out to him by his name. She introduced the strange kid to him as her new friend that she had just met recently and asked him if he wanted to be his friend too.

When he introduced himself the boy just gave him a small smile. He later learned that Arisato was a very sincere character who saw things just as they were. He didn't talk much or asked questions but yet the few things he did say were deeply meaningful and heartfelt. Maybe that's what drawed them close together, they were so similar to each other in many ways, but yet completely different in the same sense. They both didn't talk much and that's what he really liked about him, he never fussed over him or ask intruding questions, he just let him be him and never forced him to be anything else.

As the year came nearer to the end he too also realised that his inevitable end was also growing nearer too. After hearing about all of the things Minato did at school and all of the times he had helped around town at their usual spot at the shrine he realised that he too wanted to accomplish something meaningful.

In one of his draws he pulled out an old but unused notebook. Before his illness took a hold of him he aspired to become a great children's writer but the treatments and medicines soon made him feel mostly tired to do anything these days. Putting the book to one side he reached out for his container of pills at his bed side. He took out two pills and grabbed the glass of water. He examined the pills in his left hand before putting them back. He decided, that he he wouldn't need take them anymore: They were only speeding up his death anyway.

Writing his story in his notebook had been relatively easy over the next few days. He wrote about a pink alligator and his little bird friend in the woods with small intricate illustrations. But when it came to finish his story he had no idea how to end it.

At first he decided that the alligator would accidentally eat his friend and spend the rest of his life in regret over what he had done, but soon that ending grew unsatisfying to him. So the next Sunday when he met up with Minato he decided to ask him instead.

Eventually over the few hours they spent together he finally came up with an ending. He finished his last drawing and stared at his creation before finally closing the book. Minato told him once that just because something must die doesn't mean that everyone else has to be sad too. One's death may lead to others happiness, for if something should die something else can grow in it's place. He closed his eyes finally content for once in his life.

***

He was Sunday once again after the long intensive weekdays of S.E.E.S and school. As much as it wore him out he knew he had to bare though them as much as he would like to admit.

He had grown to like Sundays. It was the one day where he could wind down and not have his mind clouded with worries, providing nothing major was happening with Taratus, he had the whole day to himself. When he first arrived on this Island he mainly spent he Sundays either studying or at his computer mostly alone in his room.

But after awhile relaxing during his break time just in his room caused him to grow bored. So one Sunday he made it so that he would take a visit to the shrine. He had been there a few times before with Ken and right now for him he wanted to appreciate the quietness. But when he walked nearer to the shrine he was met with a small hyperactive girl.

At first she didn't say much to him but never the less she tried to make conversation with him. He didn't notice straight away at first but he looked into her eyes he felt as if that wide smile of hers was just a facade and that she was carrying a deep pain inside herself.

Soon after she invited him to talk to her more often near the play equipment that was located just beside the shrine. She would talk about anything and everything and sat beside her and listened quietly. Strangely enough he actually started to enjoy listening to her amazing stories, and even though he doubted some of their credibility it was fun to entertain them. One time she even talked about her own parents and how they were so mean to her. She hated how they would always fight over her and sometimes she felt that it wasn't just because they loved her, but because they wanted to get back at each other. Although he didn't know much about human emotions he still tried to comfort her anyway.

There Sundays together soon became accompanied by an older boy with long grey hair. He was pale and looked relatively frail. But even despite that he was a strong minded person even though he sometimes lacked the determination. Sometimes even when Maiko wasn't there they would still met up together. They soon became friends.

Every bond is unique they say, and that is true for many. With him he felt an unwavering connection with him. Maybe it was because they were so similar to each other and maybe the fact that neither of them had ever asked any pointless questions like 'Why are you sick?' or 'Why don't you talk much?'. Being with him felt like he wasn't expected to make any pointless small talk, and so he didn't. They could sit together in a comfortable silence for hours without saying a word and could then walk away like they had just had the best conversation in the world.

One time not so far ago, the boy had asked him for advice on how to finish off his book. It was a book for children and yet he was going to end it in a rather sad note. He told him that maybe he should leave it on a happier note instead. Maybe that would satisfy him. Not all happy endings are completely happy, but they do at least bring closure.

He went off more determined than Minato had ever seen to finish his book that he had been working on for the past few weeks. He went into the hospital a week later to see how he was getting on and made his way to Akinari's room.

Inside he saw him sat upright in his bed. When he looked over he noticed Minato standing by his side and he gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen cross his face. He looked down and saw his notebook closed in the centre of his bed.

The boy greeted him and Minato did the same. He looked at the book and reached over to hold it in his hands.He gazed at it for awhile before deciding to hand it over to him.

_Here, the story is finally complete. i finished it just like I said I would._

Minato held it in his hands and the older boy let his hands slip from the edges of the cover.

_I want you to have it. Think of it as a thank you gift from me for everything you've done. It may not be much, but if you enjoy it even in the slightest bit, then I have completed my wish._

_Thank you Minato, for being here with me._

A small breeze entered the room from the open window and the thin white curtains flapped from its place covering his view in a white blanket. 

When the breeze mellowed down his body was no longer there. If he had to say, it was almost like he had never been there at all.

But the notebook held evidence that his encounter had been at one point real and he grazed his fingers along the cover. He opened the book and flicked though its pages. Each and every page was adored with beautiful cursive writing and pastel drawings of small childlike animals.

On the back of the front cover he noticed a small footnote written right at the bottom:

[This book was helped made possible by my friend, Minato Arisato, without him I would have never realised by true potential and I would have never been able to complete my dreams]


End file.
